the way cole makes varric conflicted is so delicious i think. most of the characters are uncomfortable around him because they're genuinely terrified of demons and the fade and magic in general but varric is a completely different case. the thing is, he doesn't see cole as a demon at all because he doesn't want to.
he acts like he doesn't care about this stuff. that's a little weird kiddo around here and he wants to befriend him. teach him something even. why not. that's a little guy who's a little too good with knives and can't pick up a single social clue at the same time.
but there it is. the "he could have been a person" line if cole is made more spirit. varric is so upset about it because it's not like he saw cole as, well, a spirit who got a little too human. for varric, he was a human first, a weird kid second. the spirit part didn't even come into consideration because. well. it would make him question things. you know where it goes.
every time he starts bitching about anders he brings up justice. justice drove him mad. justice took over him. justice this, justice that. justice is a scapegoat because the thought that someone varric was friends with was actually willing to blow up the chantry and it wasn't just some evil demon's wish is a very unsettling one. varric's friends may be crazy but they're cool and make no irreversible life decisions of that extent, don't they? blondie turned out this way because he let a demon possess him and make him do terrible things. completely out of the blue.
it's either varric's ex-friend has never been driven crazy by some inherently evil entity and there was a whole other person around him all along and that anger he used to mock was coming from the same place as compassion's urge to become a killer or that little weird but kind kid he started to care about has never been and will never be a real kid. he can't have both. a bitter pill to swallow for someone who has never picked a side in his life
Today is day 11 of the Fragile Dreams 15th Anniversary project with @lunarhillfunland, and I'm presenting you all with today's theme: Ghosts/Spirits!
A strange man with his many, stranger guests...
Lets keep this train going! If you havent yet, please check out everyone's work over at @lunarhillfunland! theres plenty of excellent writings and drawings to be had~
The team hasn't been back home in a while, but luckily their friends have kept it neat and orderly for them and are excited that they've finally come back!
Decided to finally give Explorers of the Spirit a play-through!
I took the liberty of editing both Echo and Sora using SkyTemple (and editing sprites for them), so that I could experience the game perfectly for the first time.
I am so excited to experience this romhack, especially since everyone that has recommended it seems to absolutely love the story. I'll probably be a crying mess at the end. We'll see if I can manage to tough through it all and come out in one piece (who am I kidding? I will cry, I know it).
(possible EOTS spoiler warning below)
Another reason that I am extremely excited is because I heard that this game was influenced by the Hero/Darkrai fan theory (though it may not be exactly the same?)
So obviously I had to tweak Echo's moveset a little and give her both the move Dark Void and also the secondary ability Bad Dreams. For the theme, ya know? I need the maximum amount of angst possible. I wanna suffer emotionally.
Thinking about An Le again and all the potential everything with him...
Lang Qianqiu's best friend who befriended him specifically as part of a rebellion plot
Mentored by Qi Rong, and was probably pretty close to him (QR seems to have been around since before XL became LQQ's mentor so it sounds like QR practically raised him since he was a kid)
HIS DEATH WAS ACTUALLY REALLY BRUTAL (deserved but yikes!)
Still really want to know what his dynamic with QR was like. Did QR feel anything about his death...
Was he seen as a champion of the Xianle people? We know how pure and heroic LQQ is, so I feel like An Le would have had to outwardly be like that too for them to be close friends
Was LQQ there for his death or did he learn of it later... (probably the latter because he had no idea An Le hated him and I doubt that's something An Le would conceal on his death bed. He's dying, may as well stick the knife into his bestie as deep as it will go!)
Anyway it is just thinking about An Le hours and I really hope the donghua expands on him a little the way it did for Pei Xiu & Banyue's backstory before